Jim Carrey has shared an incredible, yet terrifying story about the time he was told he only had “ten-minutes to live.”
The star opened up about the close call on an appearance on The Tonight Show.
Read on to find out more…
Carrey first rose to fame in gross-out comedy movies such as Dumb & Dumber and Ace Ventura, where his seemingly elastic face and never-ending supply of energy gained much fan acclaim.
Since then, Carrey has starred in films across a wide range of genres, including a range of excellent romcoms like Bruce Almighty.
But, Carrey doesn’t shy away from more dramatic roles, either.
He gained a lot of critical praise for his role in dystopian reality television satire, The Truman Show. He also played the romantic straight-man lead in artsy classic, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Alongside his acting success, Carrey has had to deal with a certain level of fame.
Particularly in the ’90s, Carrey was one of the most recognizable faces in the celebrity world. His hugely successful film roles led to a legion of loyal fans.
At first, Carrey seemed to court the public’s attention.
But in recent years, he’s become a lot more private and less keen on holding his spot in the public eye. In fact, he’s often quite critical of society’s obsession with fame.
So instead, Carrey has frequently been keen to troll the paparazzi.
Here he is in 2008, wearing then-girlfriend Jenny McCarthy’s bathing suit – perhaps as a commentary on how women are treated by the media, or perhaps just to induce a laugh.
But, when you’re as famous as Carrey is, pictures are pretty hard to avoid.
Particularly when attending high profile celebrity events with such regularity.
With a life in the limelight, it’s easy to assume we know a lot about Carrey…
But behind the scenes, it seems we haven’t really known much about Carrey’s life.
Over the years, details of several tragic incidents in his past have surfaced.
It seems behind his smile, there’s a whole world of pain.
The tragedies of Carrey’s life started very young – when he was a kid, in fact.
He was constantly afraid of his parents dying.
Speaking about his fear, Carrey explained: “I remember locking myself in the bathroom and crying because I thought they were going to die.”
“They banged on the door, telling me to come out. I don’t know if I got over that fear at that time; it was just kind of with me,” he explained.
Carrey was also a very lonely kid having confessed that he “spent most of my time in my room staring at a mirror.”
“I never knew I was supposed to socialize. I went from straight-A student to not wanting to know anybody’s name, and not wanting to make a friend.”
Carrey also faced a very real peril in his childhood.
A bout of homelessness, after his father lost his job.
“A lot of people don’t know this but when I was about 14 or 15, my father lost his job and I actually became homeless for quite some time.”
“But of course, I grew up in Canada and I thought we’d gone camping,” he joked on stage.
But that’s not all…
Carrey has been a successful comedian for many years now, but to begin with it wasn’t like that.
During his first time on stage, things went pretty badly as he has previously explained: “I finally got offstage to huge applause just because I mentioned I was going to leave the stage.”
“Then I crawled through the audience on my hands and knees, popped up behind the piano and started banging on the keys, singing, ‘I hate you all, you gave me cancer.'”
“I got in the car and I cried all the way home,” he said. “Because I don’t want to make people unhappy.”
Carrey has also struggled with his mental health for much of his life.
He’s actually been quite vocal about his ongoing struggles with depression.
And of course, a public breakup didn’t help his fragile mental state.
In 2010, Carrey and Jenny McCarthy split, and he turned to creative pursuits to try to get through the tough times.
In fact, Carrey’s relationship past has been plagued with issues.
McCarthy even once described him as “a hard guy to date.”
“He is someone who desperately needs to be with someone, then just as desperately needs to be alone. But at the same time, he can be a very loving, very compassionate guy.”
Carrey’s intense personality has also led to professional problems.
During the filming of Man on the Moon, he fully immersed himself in the role of Andy Kauffman, but his method of acting led him to lose himself.
Carrey found himself asking questions like, “What do I believe? What are my politics? What do I like and dislike?”
“If I can put Jim Carrey aside for 4 months, who is Jim Carrey?” he asked which must have been extremely hard to deal with.
But there’s one big controversy that has dominated Carrey’s life.
Back in 2015, his ex-girlfriend Cathriona White tragically took her own life and the following year, Carrey was sued by her ex-husband for wrongful death.
He claimed Carrey had infected White with STDs and that he had supplied her with the painkillers she used to complete suicide.
Carrey fought back by launching a lawsuit claiming the family was trying to extort him and eventually, the case was dismissed on both sides in 2018.
But we can’t imagine this was an easy thing for Carrey to go through.
It’s very clear to see that Carrey has faced many difficulties throughout his life.
And after overcoming so much while juggling an astonishing career, it seems that Carrey believes it might soon be time to start taking things a little easier…
Carrey revealed his plans to retire in the middle of an interview with Access Hollywood to promote his movie, Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
Carrey was speaking about the movie when interviewer, Kit Hoover, mentioned that Dolly Parton had named Carrey as her casting choice to play her music partner.
Carrey said he had not heard about Parton’s choice, but that he loves her.
“We were born in different eras and it’s a shame,” he said. “Cause I’d have chased her. I’d have caught her.”
Hoover then asked Carrey if he would do it, to which Carrey announced his retirement.
“It’s a lovely thing. Well, I’m retiring but, yeah probably,” he said before Hoover interrupts and asks if he is being serious.
“It depends, if the angels bring some sort of script that’s written in gold ink, that says to me that it’s going to be really important for people to see, I might.”
“I might continue down the road, but I’m taking a break,” he added.
Carrey further revealed that he likes his “quiet life” and his “spiritual life.”
“I feel like, and this is something you might never hear another celebrity say as long as time exists. I have enough. I’ve done enough. I am enough.”
But while retirement is on the cards for Carrey, he added that he would “always speak to Dolly.”
“Dolly’s just, to me, an otherworldly talent who’s just bigger than you can imagine.”
What do you think of Carrey’s plans to retire?
As well as talking about his retirement from the acting business…
Carrey also revealed this one role he regretted playing in.
Carrey has done it all, going from How the Grinch stole Christmas to The Mask and all his other iconic roles on the big screen.
And through all his successful parts, he regrets playing Captain Stars & Stripes from the comic-book sequel Kick-Ass 2.
Carrey played a bat-wielding vigilante in the movie.
Unfortunately, shortly before the movie was heading to the big screen, the US suffered one of the worst mass shootings in its history when a gunman opened fire in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, killing twenty-six people.
The incident wounded many and seemed to particularly resonate with Carrey, who became a firm gun control advocate in the wake of the incident.
Carrey swore never to play a role in his movie that involves excessive violence.
“I did Kick-Ass a month before Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence,” Carrey wrote on Twitter back in June 2013.
“I meant to say my apologies to others involved with the film. I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my heart.”
Carrey has certainly been through a lot in his life.
The fifty-eight-year-old actor appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon 2 years ago where he promoted his memoir.
When asked about his inspiration for his book cover design, which was his face…
He recalled the time when he was writing his memoir on a small island in Hawaii, where he received a call from his assistant, telling him he only had “ten-minutes left” and that the “missiles are coming.”
Carrey said: “The cover is actually my face after being told I have ten- minutes to live. It was completely real to us.”
The star eagerly tried to get off the island, to avoid death.
But sooner, Carrey threw in the towel and accepted his fate.
He recalled: “At that point, I started going, ‘OK what can I do with this last moment of time.’
“I just decided to go through a list of gratitudes and honest to God I just could not stop thinking of wonderful things that have happened to me and blessings I’ve had.
“It was lovely. And I got to a point of grace at about two-minutes to spare when I found out it wasn’t actually happening,” Carrey said.
“All I was planning to do was close my eyes and be thankful because it’s been a good ride,” he admitted.
The incoming missile, luckily, turned out to be a false alarm.
When asked about what he did after finding out about the false alarm…
Carrey joked: “I got p***** off and heads rolled.”
What do you think?